The Princes Pauper
by MindMess
Summary: Light is an egotistical prince that believes himself the smartest of his kingdom. He is forced to marry Misa and one day decides to escape the castle by taking a day to look around the Kingdom's Marketplace, there he meets L. More detailed summery inside
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a re-write of one of my favorite FanFics. Check it out. I have permission to do this so don't rant on about it too me! Enjoy the story**

**Summery: Light is the prince of the kingdom Narvarra. One day he is forced to marry Misa, the princess of the kingdom Palahorra. Sayu is excited for her older brother and encourages Misa to spend more time with Light while Suichiro and Sachiko plan for the wedding. One day, in order to get out of the hectic castle, Light goes out to the village for a walk. There, he meet's L, a pauper who is eating cake in the streets. Disgusted Light approaches L and criticizes him. L outsmarts Light and angers him. Light never being one to enjoy losing so he comes back almost everyday to try and out smart the pauper.**

**Couples: LxLight (Main couple) One-sided MisaxLight and MattxMelloxNear (Side couple)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Death note or the characters**

**Warning: Cursing every so often.**

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**H**is left foot was draped over the arm of the throne while his other leg dangled by the side of the throne. His right elbow was resting against the arm of the chair while his hand supported his head. In his left hand, he played with an apple, twirling it around and occasionally throwing it up into the air and then catching it, only to repeat the process. His chocolate-brown hair glinted from the sunlight that drifted down from the widows and his hazel eyes glared at the meek guard that was standing in front of him. This was Light Yagami prince of Narvarra, handsome, smart, and almost every girl's dream.

The guard that stood in front of the prince's throne was shifting from foot to foot, hand's held behind his back, and he was staring at the ground. The guard had black hair that was now gently resting over his right eye. He was Light's guard and his name was Matsuda. "Umh...uh" Was all that he could start off as he could feel the princes eyes burning holes into him. Suddenly, the floor was far more interesting than what he was about to tell the prince. He didn't understand why he was the one that had to break this news to the prince. He liked the prince and he would rather not get on the prince's bad side. Plus, the king and queen were the ones that planned this so, therefore, they should tell him, not Matsuda.

"Well, out with it" Light demanded and Matsuda froze. He slowly looked up mumbling something unintelligible. Light looked at him with a confused face and continued twirling the apple in his hand. "What?" He asked and watched as Matsuda slowly lifted his head once again. His brown eyes met with the prince's hazel ones and he took a big breath, hoping that the prince wouldn't take his irritation on him. As much as admired the prince, he was terrified of him when he was angry. Matsuda repeated what he said and Lights eyes went wide with shock. The apple fell from his hand, bouncing twice on the cold floor before coming to a halt.

"I'm getting what!?" Light shouted and Matsuda backed away slowly. This wasn't good. The prince was angry and was going to take out his anger on the closest thing to him, which happened to be Matsuda. Hell hath no Fury, Light has taken it all. He stood up abruptly and stormed past a startled Matsuda and slammed past the doors of the throne room. He stormed through the halls and up the stairways. Matsuda followed meekly behind him. Light continued storming through the castle and stopped when he reached the dinning room in which he was sure his parents were in. He took a deep breath and, even though he was angry beyond reason, he was still the picture perfect son. Matsuda stopped behind Light and waited for the prince to enter. He was sure he was the only person that has ever seen the prince angry or expressing any emotion at all. Well, other than scorn.

Laughter was heard coming from inside the room and Light's right eye twitched. He entered the room and looked around. Sitting on far end of the abnormally long table, which Light never understood why they needed it as only four people lived in the castle, excluding the guards and servants, was his father, his mother sitting on his right side. Matsuda walked into the room and stood beside Light while still slightly trembling. "Your Majesty" He whispered low enough so only Light could hear. "That girl sitting to the left of the king is you new bride-to-be" Matsuda finished and Light looked to the left of his father.

A blond girl with blue eyes looked back and him and blushed. She had red lipstick on and blue eye shadow. The girl stood up and Light took note of what she was wearing. A long pink puffy dress with many laces and the occasional black bow on her skirt, her red covet had black thin laces criss-crossing each other. A loud squeal from behind Light startled him and he turned around in time to see Sayu, his younger sister, run up to Misa and hug her. "You brother's new fiancée right?" She asked and the blond girl smiled and nodded.

"Sayu, let go of Misa" Sachiko asked politely and Sayu blushed, noticing her mistake and sat down next to her mother, all the while, apologising. Misa walked towards Light and curtseyed.

"Misa is very pleased to meet you" Misa said. Light stared down at the girl that was curtsying down to him. She didn't seem that bad, but he would have settled for someone with less make-up on. The blond girl looked up and Light slightly nodded his head, signalling that the girl could stand up straight. Once the girl did so, Light held out his arm so Misa could take hold of it. He might not approve very much of the girl yet, but he knew his manners and when to follow them. Misa stared at the arm that was being held out to her. Realising what the arm was for, she laced her arm with the prince's. She was led to the table and seated beside Lights father and then Light took his seat next to her. Matsuda stood at the end of the table looking over the family before realising that he should be standing behind the King and scrambled to his spot.

"Now, Light" Soichiro began and Light knew that he wasn't going to like what his father had to say. Every since he was small he knew that whenever his father began his sentences or explanations with "Now, Light", it meant something he wasn't going to like was going to follow and of course, being the perfect son, he would have to suck it up and deal with it. "You are eighteen years old now, which mean you're old enough to get married." Soichiro continued. Matsuda observed his prince and noticed the light twitch of his right eye and wanted to crawl behind the chair, but that was very un-guardedly like of him. He just stood his ground. "Misa is the princess of Palahorra and has been looking for a King to rule her kingdom with her." At this Misa waved her hand at Light, even though they were sitting right next each other. "You're going to marry her and rule both our kingdom's"

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**Thanks for reading. I will continue re-writing this and I hope you enjoy it. The original author to this story is SymphonyPryo. Go check him out!Thanks for reading and please tell me whether I should continue. Thanks. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Light wanted to slam his head against the wooden table he was currently sitting at. Across from him was Misa, still talking and not noticing the slight twitch of Light's right eye. The blond girl has been staying at the castle for a little over two days and already Light wanted to pick her up, throw her out the window and completely forget about her. The problem? That he was the prince and a prince throwing his future bride out the window wasn't a good way to show the kingdom that you were going to be a good ruler.

Light kept staring at Misa, who kept talking in her high pitched voice. The prince wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying, but caught a few words such as "Marriage" and "Ruler" and "Kids". Funny thing is none of what Misa was suggesting was scaring him, only annoying him, along with the bubbly attitude the blond had seemed to pick up in the last two days. Either his family was happier and more outgoing then he originally thought or this girl was a god-damn good actor for fooling Light into believing that she wouldn't be so bad. Bad mistake.

"Misa is so excited for the wedding!" Misa exclaimed and Light's right eye twitched once again. That was another thing that the prince hated. The stupid girl spoke in third person. She couldn't speak like a normal person and try to at least act the least bit normal. No, she had to try and be 'cute' by speaking in third person and acting like a total retard. Light couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and excused himself from the room. He was heading over to his own bedroom to get some silence and to get rid of the stupid blondes voice that was trapped inside of his head like a catchy song.

Light exited the room and walked down the hallway. Matsuda was following him, trying to keep up with the prince's pace. His helmet was a size too big for him and kept spinning around his head. Matsuda had to place it back correctly every time it span and hold on to his over sized spear at the same time. "She seems friendly, don't you think? Your majesty?" Matsuda asked with a small smile. He received a grunt in return making the smile fade a little. Matsuda had found Misa very friendly and instantly took a liking to the blond girl and her happy-go-lucky attitude, but apparently the prince didn't think that her attitude was as amusing.

Light reached his room and opened the door walking inside, savouring the silence of the room. Being inside the living room with Misa for three hours was the perfect way to make you appreciate the silence. Matsuda watched as the prince walked around his room collecting the books that he was going to study. Matsuda leaned his spear against the wall and took out an apple for the prince to calm him down a bit. "Your majesty?" Matsuda said cautiously so he didn't startle the prince, who never really got startled, but you couldn't be too careful.

Light put the books he was carrying down on his big wooden desk and turned around to face Matsuda. He was waiting for the guard to speak. "Would you like an apple?" Matsuda asked and held out a perfectly red apple that looked like it was full of juice. Light nodded and gracefully took the apple and bit in to it. He turned round to open the first book on the pile. The apple was extremely juicy and some of that juice clung to the prince's lips, making them glisten in the light. Matsuda stared at Light as he took a second bite from the apple and flipped the book open, onto a new page, scanning it for something. The prince was perfect in a nutshell, his hazel eyes were perfectly shaped while his brown hair always seemed to behave and want to please the head it was on. His high cheekbones gave his face an almost feminine touch. Matsuda snapped out of the trance he was in and leaned over the side of the table the prince was sitting at. "May I ask? What are you reading?"

"War tactics and economic strategies" Light responded without looking up from his book and took another bite from the apple. Beside being handsome, the prince had smarts and he believed that he was smarter than anyone else in the kingdom. The prince believed that if you were smart enough, you could take down even the strongest army. Matsuda nodded and began to turn away, heading for kitchen to get another apple. Just in case the prince wanted a second one once he was finished with the one he was currently eating.

As Matsuda reached the door, it was flung open and Sayu stood on the other side. Matsuda stepped back fast enough to avoid the door slamming into his face, but then tripped backwards and landed on his butt, his helmet circling round his head. He reached up to place it in its proper place. "Light, Misa is waiting for you at the stables" Sayu stated with smile and laced her fingers together and sighed dreamily. "She wants you to go horseback riding with her" Sayu continued and her eyes were glazed over as she stared into nothingness.

Light almost slammed his head down on the table and cursed, almost. He turned around in his chair and looked at Sayu in her dazed state. "You encouraged her, didn't you?" Light asked and waited for a response, knowing his sister, she probably did. Out of all the people in the castle that were excited for the wedding, Sayu was the worse. She has been sticking Misa and Light together in a room alone almost every minute of the last two days. Every time Light managed to get out of the room, there was Sayu just waiting to tell him about a new idea that Misa wanted to do.

"You'll thank me later" Sayu responded and walked over to her brother, poking him on the nose "You don't want to keep Misa waiting" She stated. Light sighed while closed the book he was reading and stood up, walking over to Matsuda who was still on the floor and held out his hand. Matsuda took the hand and hoisted himself up, following the prince out of the room, grabbing his spear on the way and fixing his helmet. Sayu smiled as she watched her brother exit the room and turned towards the desk the prince was previously sitting down at and picked up one of the books that were lying on it. She stared at the book with a disgusted face, how her brother enjoyed reading things that dealt with war and economics was beyond her. She would much rather read a romance novel where the princess was saved from the evil dragon by a handsome prince. She sighed heavenly at her fantasy before skipping out of the room to think up of another way to get her brother and Misa together.

Light stepped out of the castle and walked across the field with Matsuda in tow. He was considering running into the woods and getting lost for a couple of days before reappearing magically and stating that Misa had tricked him into getting lost. He reconsidered that thought, Misa didn't seem smart enough to pull of a stunt like that. Actually, she was a completely air head, that and he would seem like an idiot if he told people that he actually fell for a trick that Misa had thought up of. Matsuda turned the helmet once again and held onto his spear with both hands. They were going horseback riding. He hated horseback riding, mainly because he was wasn't any good at it. Actually, he completely sucked at it. The last time he rode on a horse, he mounted it backwards and the horse began walking with him shouting while holding on for dear life. He shuddered at the thought and hoped that he would at least mound right this time. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Light and Misa.

Ad they reached the stable and entered it, a groomer came up to them and told them that Misa was waiting for them outside and the she had their horses out there. Light thanked the groomer and stepped outside while putting on his gloves, this was going to be one long ride. In the middle of the field was Misa in a white dress waiting for them. She was holding a white horse, black horse, and brown horse. Light was sure she would want to ride the black horse since it contrasted with her white dress.

"Light! Misa has been waiting for you!" Misa shouted and ran towards Light, hugging him and kissing him. Light inwardly grimaced. This girls high-pitched voice was ringing in his ears and the third person speech annoyed him with only a simple sentence. Misa let go of Light. Matsuda chuckled to himself when he saw Lights shocked expression. It was made funnier because Misa had 'shared' her make up with Light.

"Your majesty, you have red lipstick all over your lips" Matsuda said, trying to hold in his laughter which resulted in him speaking with a very high pitched voice. Light blushed from the embarrassment of having make up on him and cleaned the lipstick of his lips. He thanked Matsuda and walked over to the horses with the clumsy guard following close behind. As predicted, Misa chose the black horse and mounted it while Light mounted the brown horse. They waited for Matsuda to mount the white horse, but the guard only stood there. Light started to get irritated.

Matsuda stared at the horse with pure horror as if it had fangs and horns. Its black eyes stared back at Matsuda and it snorted in his face. It wasn't very guard-like of him to be scared of horses, but he was terrified. The horse was massive and its beaded black eyes were staring strait at him. "Get on" Light urged and Matsuda flinched. The prince sounded irritated, the one thing that would win over any fear Matsuda had, was Light being mad or irritated. "Hurry up and get on." Light repeated and Matsuda scrambled over to the horse, mounting its back to quickly to for his brain to comprehend what he had just finished doing.

Light sighed. How long was this torture going to go on for?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
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Light's hazel eyes followed Misa as she ran back and forth, back and forth, to talk to all the wedding planners that filled the room. The prince himself didn't feel like running from one side of the room to the other like the blond girl was doing and resorted to sitting down on an elegant couch and have people come toward him. The room they were in was going to be the area were the ceremony was going to be held. Another person called Misa over and she ran to the other side of the room to look at some fabrics.

Light sighed and covered his eyes while massaging his temples. A week. That's how long the stupid blond girl has been staying at the castle. After the little incident with the horse, Sayu sent them both to the beach which resulted in Misa running after sea gulls while Light walked away from the blond girl. Then came the sweet little stroll across the park. That didn't end well either, Misa tripped over a carelessly placed toy ball and tumbled into the lake, which Light had to admit was pretty damn well funny. After that Sayu told Misa to give the horse back riding another try. At some point during the ride, Light ended up falling on his ass again. What did all these events have in common? Simple Light ended up walking away from all of them not wanting to see the blond girl for the rest of the day.

"Your majesty?" Matsuda asked timidly as he approached the prince. He had been standing across the room watching Misa run back and forth when his eyes landed on the prince's tired form. He had decided to go up to the prince and try to cheer him up a bit. So here he was now walking up to the prince holding his spear with both hands while his helmet tilted to the side. Light looked up at Matsuda with tired eyes and sighed.

"Yes" Light asked and waited for the timid guard to respond. Matsuda looked around the room before looking back down at Light who was supporting his head with his right hand while the arms elbow rested on the right knee.

"Your majesty, you look tired. Maybe you would like to go ride out in the kingdom?" Matsuda offered while he fixed his helmet. Light sighed heavily, normally that would have been a great offer but Matsuda probably wanted him to go with Misa and she was what was making the prince so tired. Light was about to turn down Matsuda's offer when the clumsy guard continued talking. "We could go without Ms. Misa if you would like" Matsuda continued and finally got his helmet to sit still.

Light wanted to scream out in joy at Matsuda's offer. "Alright" Light answered smiling and stood up. Matsuda was overjoyed that the prince actually accepted his offer and smiled happily. He led Light out of the room while another planner distracted Misa. The second Light exited the room, Matsuda let out the biggest sigh he had ever heard. He must have been tired.

"Thank you" Light said and followed Matsuda out of the castle and into the stables where the horses were. Through out the entire walk, Matsuda was grinning like a Cheshire cat and patting himself (In his head) on the back. Light walked over to the black horse Matsuda rode the first time he and Misa went horseback riding and led it out. Matsuda chose the brown horse and followed Light outside. The prince mounted the horse and waited for Matsuda to do the same.

The timid guard, although he had riding a horse twice in one week, was still terrified of the giant animal and it took him a bit longer to get on the horse than it did Light. Both men rode the horses through the palace gates and into the rich area of the kingdom. Remember how Light had described the Market place of the wealthy side of the kingdom? Well that was exactly how it looked like around here. Women walked around with their noses in the air and holding umbrellas to stop the sun from hitting their skin, while men showed off their wives and money by buying the most expensive items on sale. The kids weren't like the ones in the commoner quarters. There were no kids running around having fun, there weren't any playing games on the floor, There weren't any dancing around to music. The children stayed besides their parents obviously not wanting to be there but not daring to go against their parents' wishes.

Light looked around the area and frowned at the lack of excitement there was here. He would rather be at the other Market Place were everything was lively. He looked over to his right at a group of giggling girls. The girls batted their eyelashes and fanned themselves the second he looked over in their direction. They were obviously trying to impress the prince with their false beauty and it irritated him. The girl's reminded him of the one he had waiting at the castle to make his life miserable. Light scowled at the group and turned his horse around and urged it to run in the direction of the commoners quarter. Matsuda's horse stopped walking and rose on its hind legs in surprise when the prince's horse ran past it

Matsuda stared at the prince's back as he rode away. He wondered what made the prince turn to abruptly and ride away. Soon the prince was almost out of sight and Matsuda realised that he was being left behind. He urged the brown horse to run after the prince before he got out of sight. "Your majesty, please wait!" Matsuda yelled while he held on to the reins with one hand and his helmet with the other. "Your majesty!" He shouted again and continued after the prince.

Music rang into his ears and Light sighed happy to be once again in the commoners Market Place. Again, no one seemed to notice that he was there. They were too preoccupied with their own chores or games. He urged the horse forward and looked around at the lively place. It was a nice change to have such a carefree surrounding.

Matsuda appeared behind the prince while slowing the horse down to a stroll. He looked around and his mouth gaped open. This Marketplace was so much better then the other. The happy-go-lucky atmosphere was contagious. Light looked down at a pair of children that were drawing on the ground with stick. There were two stick figures that were holding swords while they fought a poorly drawn dragon.

"Your majesty?" Matsuda said and caught the prince's attention. Light looked in the direction that Matsuda was facing and his mouth gaped open. Across the duo there was a bakery where bread, cakes, and all other type of pastries were sold. In front of this bakery was the strange man from couple of days ago, sweeping the ground while the baker watched over him suspiciously.

The strange man looked up and his big black eyes met Light's hazel ones before he turned around and continued sweeping. "He looks quite poor don't you think so?" Matsuda asked while he adjusted his helmet once again as it tilted and blocked half his vision. Light continued watching the man, not responding to what the guard said.

"Matsuda" Light started to say. Matsuda turned his head to the direction of the prince and waited for the young man to continue talking. "Go wonder around the Market Place, buy whatever you want, do whatever you want. I'll meet you at the palace later" Light continued and handed Matsuda a bag of money for him to spend. Matsuda watched as the prince urged his horse towards the bakery and then looked down at the bag of money in his hand. The prince was usually never this kind. Whenever the prince wanted Matsuda to leave, he would glare and the clumsy guard would leave the room so fast it almost seemed that he would fly. The meek guard remembered the glare he usually received if he didn't follow order and went pale. He decided to follow the order the prince gave him and turned the horse around.

Light dismounted the black horse and tied it to a post before walking up to the bakery. His gaze never left the strange man's back. The baker seemed to have noticed the prince walking up to his store because he ran into the store and came out with a freshly baked cake. Light stopped walking in front of the baker who shoved the freshly baked cake towards the prince. Light stared at the cake before gently pushing it to the side and smiling awkwardly. "Thank you, but I don't enjoy sweets very much" The prince stated. The strange man looked up from his sweeping and stared at Light like he had grown a second head.

The baker stood still with an "O" shaped mouth before running inside slamming the door shut on his way inside. The strange man watched the baker run around the store before he place the broom to lean against the wall of the bakery. "Well, he isn't giving me any cake" The strange man stated while he scratched the back of is head. He then looked over to the display table that was set up in front of the bakery and stared longingly at the slice of strawberry cake.

"I don't think it would be smart to steal when I'm here" Light stated and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He saw the stare that the strange man gave that piece of cake and instantly knew that the man was about to steal the cake. How the man actually thought that he could steal something while Light was around was beyond the prince, but he wasn't about to let that happen.

"I don't believe that you would bother trying to catch me" The strange man said while he walked forward and reached out for the cake. Light clenched his teeth and scowled at the man. What the hell was the matter with this man? He never showed any respect and spoke to Light as if he had known the prince his entire life.

"And why would you think that?" Light asked through his clenched teeth. The man never looked at Light, he never even turned slightly in the direction of the prince. All he did was pick up a small piece of cake he held in his hand and ate it, savouring the taste. Light was extremely disgusted. The man ate the piece of cake with his bare, dirty hands.

"Simple" The man states and he ate another piece of the cake, again savouring the taste. "There are bigger things for you to be worried about, such as the wedding you are planing to have" He continued and licked his figures. The man went to grab another piece of cake and Light grabbed his wrist successfully stopping the man.

"Stop that. You're stealing. I won't tolerate it" Light stated and glared at the man who in turn only stared back at him with dark black eyes. The prince glared harder when he noticed that his glare wasn't doing anything to intimidate the man.

"You don't really want to stop me" The man stated and put the plate that held the cake on top of the display table and then turned to face Light. The prince scowled at him and tightened the grip on the man's wrist almost stopping the blood circulation. A normal person would have been screaming for mercy by now, but the man continued to stare at Light. "You don't really care if I steal the cake" The man continued. "You only want to stop me because you are subconsciously angry at me for outsmarting you" The man finished and Light clenched his jaw together while he glared at the man. True since he had met the man a couple of days ago, he has been ill tempered and his mask has crumbled a couple of times for about a split second, but that didn't prove that what the man said was true. "By the way if you truly want to hurt someone's, wrist you need to aim for the pressure point" The man added as an after thought and grabbed the prince's wrist pressing said pressure point.

A sharp pain shot through Lights wrist and up his arm. Light gasped and he let go of the man's wrist and fell down on his knees, gripping his hurt wrist. The man grabbed his cake and took a bite from it before looking down at the prince. "You should stop thinking highly of yourself" He stated and ran away while Light slowly stood up and tested his wrist. He almost called the guards to stop the man from getting away, but instead turned around and stalked back towards his horse pushing anyone that stood in his way to the ground.

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**Hi Guys.**

**I'm sorry for not updating for a while. I've just had a lot to do and I didn't have much time to do this. Sorry!**

**I have 10 followers on this story! Thank you! I love you all!**

**OMG, I just noticed that chapter 2 and 3 were the same! I am SO sorry! Please tell me if you notice something like that. I'm so sorry. I've fixed it now. :S**

**-MindMess**


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